23:53 - Sunny PagliaccioNote to self: Do NOT open links on max volume in the middle of a quiet night. Otherwise, not bad. :D

23:52 - ApothecaryFast food workers planning a strike in support of $15/hour wages next month. I'm a tutor in a reading lab at a college and I don't even make that much, a bit of an overestimation of one's importance, don'tcha think?

Roots was Max Cavalera's last album with Sepultura before his departure, and he did not exactly go out with a bang. The predecessor to Roots, Chaos A.D., saw the band move away from thrash and towards a simpler, moderately-paced death metal sound that, while differing from their previous material, showed promise. Roots takes this stylistic change further, abandoning thrash-inspired death for death-inspired nu metal. Truthfully, this is largely a nu metal album punctuated by Max Cavalera's recognizable growls, Igor's trademark drumming, and some traditional Brazilian instrumentation provided by Brazilian musician Carlinhos Brown and the native Xavante tribe. The genesis of Soulfly is here, and is not entirely welcome.

Max Cavalera has never been a particularly unique songwriter. Not every band needs an artist at the helm, but Max has an annoying tendency of re-writing the same song over and over again with the same determination as AC/DC and none of the success. Early Sepultura stands out as an exception, but by the mid-'90s he had run out of new ideas. Roots, Soulfly, Nailbomb, Cavalera Conspiracy… there was no need to separate the material by band. It all sounds the same. Simplicity is as much of a songwriting tool as complexity. Used correctly and strategically, it provides for greatness and memorability; used improperly or too often, as is the case here, it leaves the listener with nothing to grasp and nothing to take away from the listening experience.

The incredibly down-tuned guitars mingle with Igor's powerful drumming and Max's raspy exhortations in the same sludgy, Slipknot-Korn-not Sepultura atmosphere on just about every song, and it gets old after "Cut-Throat." This connection to nu metal is only strengthened by the presence of Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis and drummer David Silveria on a couple of tracks, who do nothing to liven up the stagnant swamp of sludge and laziness that encases every song. "Lookaway," which features Davis and Faith No More's legendary Mike Patton, utilizes approximately none of the guest talent and is merely disappointing.

There are three, and only three, songs on this album that are worth a listen. The very first song, "Roots Bloody Roots," is a grinding, pounding anthem that shows the great potential for Max Cavalera's newfound sound. Max has stated that "Roots Bloody Roots" is his absolute favorite song to perform live, which is quite understandable. This is followed up by "Attitude," which, while not exactly a masterpiece, is decent enough (qualifying as head-and-shoulders above the rest of the album). "Ratamahatta," featuring a very noticeable amount of traditional Brazilian influence, essentially finishes off the album at the fourth overall track. Listening to any one of the following songs will provide an accurate representation of what all the rest are like; there is no point in wasting more time on Roots than is necessary.

What's left to say about Sepultura? That it's probably the best selling third world band ever? That they're going facedown to the ground since the leaving of Max "I am the Soulfly-Ego" Cavalera? "Chaos A.D." went golden and "Roots" went double gold in Holland (trust me, that's a good thing). That the difference between their first and last records is so huge that even the development of a butterfly contains more radical changes? That "Roots" was the first piece of metal I bought? Nah, I think the band-name speaks for itself. The style on this first piece of Sepultura is totally different from "Roots". They started as a full-on death metal band, finding their roots on "Beneath The Remains' (1989) and re-discovered 'em in 1991, with the release of "Arise". And then, five years later, one of the finest works of the 90's is released.

I like a couple of songs but that's it. Quite a mediocre album indeed and I can't say I disgaree with the review except... you know...

The whole part when you imply that Chaos A.D. is death metal. Big LOL on that one.

Yeah, I don't understand why people, especially in the US, keep on labelling old Seputura as death metal when it clearly is thrash metal. Labelling f.e. Arise and Beneath The Remains death metal is like saying Slayer played death metal on their best known albums.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 17.08.2012 at 12:49Yeah, I don't understand why people, especially in the US, keep on labelling old Seputura as death metal when it clearly is thrash metal. Labelling f.e. Arise and Beneath The Remains death metal is like saying Slayer played death metal on their best known albums.

Exactly. Only on the debut and the stuff before that... And even those releases are death-influenced thrash at most and definitely not the reverse.

I like a couple of songs but that's it. Quite a mediocre album indeed and I can't say I disgaree with the review except... you know...

The whole part when you imply that Chaos A.D. is death metal. Big LOL on that one.

Yeah, I don't understand why people, especially in the US, keep on labelling old Seputura as death metal when it clearly is thrash metal. Labelling f.e. Arise and Beneath The Remains death metal is like saying Slayer played death metal on their best known albums.

I know that Sepultura used to be thrash, I just noted that there was a lot less of it on "Chaos A.D." "Propaganda," "Slave New World," and such were obviously thrash, but then there was also "Amen," "Nomad," and songs like "Refuse/Resist" and "Territory" which were kind of a mix.

Written by ScreamingSteelUS on 17.08.2012 at 18:25I know that Sepultura used to be thrash, I just noted that there was a lot less of it on "Chaos A.D." "Propaganda," "Slave New World," and such were obviously thrash, but then there was also "Amen," "Nomad," and songs like "Refuse/Resist" and "Territory" which were kind of a mix.

Originality....4???
Please write me down the band/s where they copied this kind of sounds, because i am very intereted to know them!

Agreed. This is one of the most unique metal releases of the last 20 years!

Furthermore, I don't feel that Max's other projects (i.e. "Roots, Soulfly, Nailbomb, Cavalera Conspiracy…") can be defined as "there was no need to separate the material by band.", as they're all vastly different, with the exception of perhaps Roots and Soulfly.

Welcome to another instalment of ScreamingSteelUS's series "I want to stand out somehow so I will write retro reviews and bash musical classics!

Even though I don't love this album at all, there is one reason that blows your credibility out the water and makes me not take your reviews seriously. You rated originality with a 4. Your gave a 4 to one of the most original metal albums in the last quarter-century...

Well written review which I mostly agree with. The album has the title song, which is a killer, and a couple of parts here and there which are really good. But during its bad moments - and there's A LOT of them - "Roots" is just a terrible album.